Prohibit smoking in public places

Express-News Editorial Board -

Published
12:00 am CDT, Sunday, May 16, 2010

San Antonio is largely an outlier with regard to its smoking ordinance. Only Fort Worth joins San Antonio among major Texas cities — and many minor cities and towns — without strong smoke-free ordinances. And Texas is one of only 11 states that lack some form of statewide ban on smoking in public places.

For the good of the San Antonio community, it's time for that outlier status to change.

City Councilman Justin Rodriguez, with the support of Mayor Julián Castro and an alliance of 15 organizations that have formed the San Antonio Smoke-Free Coalition, is seeking to bolster the ordinance created in 2003 that still permits smoking in a wide range of public places, including pool halls, bingo parlors, comedy clubs, enclosed areas within restaurants and bars.

City Council should support the effort to establish a comprehensive smoking ban in public places.

The disastrous health consequences of smoking and second-hand smoke are well-established by a plethora of scientific studies. Anyone foolish enough to smoke, despite the evidence, has the ability to do so. But smokers have no right to inflict the deadly consequences, along with the smelly residue of their habit, on others.

This isn't only a matter of the wishes of patrons, who choose which establishments they frequent. It's also a health issue for employees who work month after month in a toxic atmosphere.

Owners of these establishments complain that removing smoke will also remove customers. But studies from other cities that have enacted comprehensive smoking bans, including Houston and El Paso, demonstrate the opposite. Revenues increased after the bans went into effect.

There's every reason to believe the same thing will happen here. A poll of local registered voters conducted by Baselice & Associates found 23 percent of those surveyed would go to bars and restaurants more often if a comprehensive ban were in place. Only 14 percent said they would go out less often. By a 2-1 margin, poll participants support a comprehensive ban. And 54 percent strongly support such a measure.

While there's no economic downside to a smoking ban, Texans — all of us, smoker and nonsmoker alike — pay a high price for smoking. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, tobacco-related diseases cost the state $5.8 billion in direct medical costs and an additional $6.4 billion in lost worker productivity in 2004. Medicaid expenditures on smoking-related illnesses totaled $1.6 billion.

Against these known economic costs and health consequences, there's no rational basis to oppose a comprehensive smoking ban. The minority who choose to continue smoking can do so in private and in large outdoor areas. The rest of us have a right to our health and clean air.